Oasis Evolution and Water Resource Utilization of a Typical Area in the Inland River Basin of an Arid Area

In the inland river basins of arid areas, human demand on available water supplies continues to grow as the regional population grows. Meanwhile, an increasing amount of cultivated land is expected to experience more acute and frequent water shortages. In order to solve the problem of water shortages, many studies have been carried out on water resource development, the influence of water overuse on the environment, land-use change and its environmental impact in arid areas. However, the impact of the main driving forces, especially water resources, on environmental evolution has not been analyzed or discussed in detail. Furthermore, long-term environmental changes are less well recognized, particularly in the inland river basins of arid areas.

The Manas River valley is a typical inland river basin of an arid area in central Asia, and illustrates oasis evolution and economic development in this region. Based on the historical documents, monitoring data from field surveys and remote sensing image data, Dr. ZHANG Qingqing et al. studied the oases evolution over the last 2,000 years, analyzed the rapid expansion of Manas River oases in the last 60 years and studied the relationship between oasis evolution and water resource utilization. They discussed the characteristics and effects of oasis expansion and the proposed adjustment measures for sustainable development of the Manas River valley. The principal objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between oasis expansion and water resource utilization over the last 60 years and solve the problem of water shortages in Manas River valley.

The results indicated that the oasis evolution in the Manas River valley over the last 2,000 years can be divided into three periods: a period dominated by animal husbandry, a period of semi-farming and semi-grazing and a period of farming. During the first two periods, the oasis area was limited and the water utilization levels were low. In the third period, oasis expansion over the last 60 years showed a large-scale development. The third period can be subdivided into four phases according to the scale of water projects and the level of irrigation. Different oasis scales of the four phases showed that the artificial oasis evolution has a close relationship with water resource utilization. Although the artificial oasis evolution played an important role in promoting economic development, it also brought some environmental problems. Therefore, adjustment measures for the future development of oases could be proposed from the perspective of sustainable development, such as controlling oasis scale, forbidding reclamation, moderating exploitation of groundwater and transforming industrial structures.

The result has been published on Environmental Earth Science, 2012, 66: 683-692. The paper is also archived at http://www.springerlink.com/content/pl42q37678271h33/.